There are several types of hand-operated, plier-type ratchet wrenches, distinguished chiefly by the manner in which hand operation drives the ratchet. Basically, so far as known, these are the gear types, the hydraulic types, and the essentially link and thrust rod types. The hydraulic types, such as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,508,568; 2,708,383; and 2,983,172, tend to be heavy and expensive which alone militates against them. Besides, they can leak and so become disabled. The gear types seem to break down pretty much into two classes, those using pinion or sector gears or both, as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,121,668; 1,970,721; 2,633,044; 2,831,384; 3,286,560; and 3,557,644, and those using rack gears at the ends of push rods as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,817,257; 3,413,877; 3,616,714; 3,682,088; and 3,726,161. There is even a combination of both in U.S. Pat. No. 919,260. But the gear types, whether pinion, sector or rack, are also expensive to fabricate and tend also to be relatively complex. In addition, the use of racks requires more space. On the other hand, however, the essentially link and thrust rod types as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,204,095; 1,543,338; 2,471,194; 2,726,563; and 2,954,715, which ought to avoid the disadvantages set forth of the other types, unfortunately likewise tend to be more complex and thus expensive to manufacture than they need or should be, or otherwise suffer from design faults which impair their efficiency. It is thus the chief object of the present invention to provide a plier-type ratchet wrench of the link and thrust rod type which is efficient, but simple, economical of construction and robust.